College of Coastal Georgia Gets Healthy.
A Tobacco Free Campus and Facility Improvements Promote Healthy Lifestyles

July 1, 2009
Brunswick, GA

The College of Coastal Georgia is getting healthy. For several months, the College of Coastal Georgia has been preparing to become tobacco free and has been promoting the health and well-being of students, faculty, staff, and community members. In addition to the adoption of the tobacco free campus policy, the revitalized par course is becoming a favored community resource for outdoor exercise. College plans also call for the fall 2009 opening of a new fitness center that will be made available for faculty, staff, and students.
The College, like many other campuses in the region, is promoting healthy lifestyles by going tobacco free. This means no tobacco is allowed to be consumed anywhere within the college property that is owned, leased or controlled by the College of Coastal Georgia effective July 1, 2009. All faculty, staff, students, visitors, vendors, contractors, and all others are prohibited from using any tobacco products (i.e. cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco, etc) while on CCGA property. According to the Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, a California-based advocacy group, the number of completely smoke-free colleges and universities has more than quadrupled since 2006 from 34 to almost 160.

"As a college, we are focusing on health and wellness—without the hazard of tobacco use on campus," stated Valerie A. Hepburn, PhD, College of Coastal Georgia president. “Throughout the rollout of the tobacco-free campus, we have focused on raising awareness through signage, information on the Web site and a partnership with local health agencies to offer smoking cessation classes to our faculty and staff. Our focus on health will continue as we implement the College’s strategic master plan.”

The College’s strategic master plan calls for relocation of parking lots that will facilitate physical exercise as students, faculty, and staff walk from their parking spaces to their destination points on campus. With plans for residential housing on the horizon and projected enrollment growth, increased pedestrian and bicycle traffic is anticipated on campus. Currently, the prime real estate on campus is made of parking lots. “Of our 193 acres of campus, we currently only utilize twenty acres—fifteen acres of that space is parking within seconds of our buildings,” stated Dr. Hepburn. That will change.
With the rejuvenation of the College’s par course, the fitness trail that is equipped with distributed exercise stations; the fitness center that will house state of the art equipment for students, faculty and staff to enjoy regularly; increased use of outdoor and green spaces; and a tobacco free campus the College of Coastal Georgia hopes to set the tone for physical health in the community.